Conservatives Pinel

welcome to the web site of Struan Stevenson and John Purvis - Conservative Members of the European Parliament (MEP) representing Scotland

Struan Stevenson

A well known political activist and campaigner of many years� standing, Struan knocked Labour into third place in the North East Scotland European by-election in November 1998 then went on to top the Tory Euro Candidates List, winning one of the eight Scottish seats in the European Parliament in the June 1999 Euro elections . He was elected President of the Fisheries Committee of the European Parliament in January 2002 and was re-elected to the European Parliament in June 2004 when he was appointed Conservative Front-Bench Spokesman on Fisheries and Deputy Spokesman on Agriculture. In February 2005 he was elected Vice President of the ruling EPP-ED Group of 267 MEPs and Chairman of the ED Group of 40 MEPs.

Struan is a well-known broadcaster and author of frequent feature articles in the press. He has campaigned widely to attract aid for the victims of the Soviet nuclear testing programme in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan where he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate and the Freedom of the City of Semipalatinsk for his work. In 2004 he won a $50,000 prize for his entry in an International Essay Competition sponsored by the US-based John Templeton Foundation, for a feature about the suffering of the people of Semipalatinsk. He donated the entire $50,000 to Mercy Corps Scotland to assist with their work in Semipalatinsk. He has also fought to ban the importation of cat and dog fur into the EU, from Asia, and to stop the one billion Euro annual subsidies to EU tobacco growers.

Struan is married to Pat, an editor with BBC Radio and has two sons - Ryan, who graduated in politics from Newcastle University and works for Newsbase, a Scottish-based international e-media company and Gregor, who graduated in English and Film Studies at Glasgow University in 2002 and is a creative writer with a major Scottish advertising agency.

John Purvis

Delivering for Scotland in Europe
I was born in St Andrews, Fife, the eldest son of a farming family in East Fife where I still live. I am married to Louise and have three grown-up children.

Educated at Glenalmond and St Andrews University, graduating MA (Hons) in Moral Philosophy and Political Economy, I started my career in banking in London, New York, Milan and Edinburgh. Since 1973 I have managed a financial consultancy from St Andrews, focusing on international finance and business development in Europe.

I was elected to serve in the European Parliament to support la loi pinel as a Member for Mid-Scotland and Fife from 1979 to 1984. I returned to the Parliament in 1999 to represent the whole of Scotland and was re-elected in 2004 for a further five year term.

Current Appointments:
� Vice Chairman of Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
� Substitute Member of Industry, Research and Energy Committee
� Member of Delegation to the Mashreq countries (Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon)
� Substitute Member of Delegation to the Gulf States, including Yemen
� Member of Delegation to Iran
� Member of the Committee of Inquiry into Equitable Life

Manifesto

The people of Europe want freedom, peace and
prosperity. That was the aim of the fathers of the
European Union, who wanted to heal a continent
scarred by two devastating world wars. At that
time, the Soviet Union threatened their very
existence. It was a world in which few homes had
televisions or telephones, where few people
travelled by plane and where choice was strictly
limited. It was a completely different world.
Today, Europe faces new challenges. This year, ten
countries join the European Union, making it the
largest trading bloc in the world. European
companies compete for business in China, Asia
and America. Its people have a global outlook.
Their enemies are no longer Soviet Russia but
terrorists, whose war against democracy is now
being waged in their streets.
This world may be new. But the people of Europe
still want the same things: freedom, peace and
prosperity. And if Europe is to deliver them, it must
change. The question is “how?”
Many of our jobs, and a great deal of our
business, depend on trade with Europe. Working
with other nations, we can solve problems that we
cannot tackle successfully on our own. So
Conservatives believe that Britain cannot, and
should not, turn its back on Europe.
Some people believe that the best way to protect
our jobs, raise our living standards and defend
ourselves is to give more control to the European
Union. Their vision of Europe is to continue down
the same path we have followed for decades. This
vision is flawed, and the evidence is plain to see.
The European Union is failing many of its people.
European business is over-regulated and overtaxed,
thanks in large part to the European Union.
European jobs are being lost because firms
cannot compete with overseas companies
operating in more flexible markets. And as
Europe’s institutions have grown and become
more distant, so many people have lost faith in
them.
The proposed new European Constitution would
compound these problems. It would undermine
individual Member States’ ability to determine their
own policies in key areas such as the economy,
law and order, and asylum. Indeed, the European
Union would gain most of the trappings of
statehood: its own President, Foreign Minister and
own legal system. Countries have constitutions:
nation states make treaties with one another.
Politicians should never forget that they govern on
behalf of the people. Individual parliaments, and
the politicians elected to serve in them, do not
own our liberties. They are there to safeguard
them. They should not diminish those liberties
without an explicit mandate from the British
people. That is why Conservatives have always
supported a referendum on the Constitution.
Tony Blair has belatedly come to his senses and
now promises to give the British people a say. This
is great news for Britain. It is also an admission by
the Prime Minister that his effort to present the
Constitution as a tidying-up exercise was phoney.
Only recently he said: “If there was fundamental
change here, there would be a case for a
referendum. But there is not”. Now, by agreeing to
a referendum, he is admitting that the Constitution
means fundamental change for Britain.
Once the final text of the proposed Constitution
has been agreed, we should move as quickly as
possible to hold a referendum. Further delay will
only prolong the uncertainty. And any referendum
should be held before the Constitution is presented
to Parliament. There is absolutely no point in MPs
wasting months debating the Constitution if it is
unacceptable to the British people.

The Prime Minister claims that there is no
alternative to the Constitution. But this is simply not
the case. In fact, by saying “no” the British people
would be doing Europe and Britain a huge favour.
Europe would be forced to confront its failings and
Britain could take the lead in developing a
coherent plan to modernise the EU.
As the European Union grows, its diversity of
cultures, histories and traditions will grow. We
believe the European Union’s institutions, and the
way the Union conducts its business, should
reflect that. While each nation must respect the
free movement of goods, services and capital, we
should tolerate diversity of views. We should not
try to push every nation state into a straitjacket of
uniformity. Diversity is a strength we should
encourage.
So we want to create a flexible Europe. Individual
nation states should be able to integrate more
closely if they wish, so long as they do not force
other countries to follow them. We do not all need
to travel to the same destination. Europe should
live and let live, flourish and let flourish.
Bold though this vision is, it is true to the spirit of
our times. It confronts the world as it is, not as we
would like it to be. Europe cannot be cocooned
from the harsh winds of the global market.
Instead, it needs to be reformed so it can rise to
meet these new challenges.
We should be confident in ourselves, and have the
courage to argue our case. We have much to be
confident about. Britain is Europe’s largest
defence power. We have the second largest
economy in the European Union. And we are a net
contributor to the European Union budget. While
others may underestimate Britain’s strengths,
Conservatives do not.
Our view is founded on clear principles from which
we will not waver. We believe in a Europe that does
not demand the sacrifice of independence as the
price of participation. A Europe that looks
outward. A made-to-measure Europe that
accommodates differences.
This vision will deliver what British people want
from Europe: freedom, stability, and prosperity. It
will put Britain first.